Page 8

Meet Faith; artsy, intelligent, caring.

I was born in St.Catherines, Ontario. My background is British, First Nations and Russian. My dog Daisy was a rescue and has one blue eye and one brown. She is all bark but no bite!The special person in my life is my step mom, Candie. She helps me a lot with family problems and is always there for me even though she’s not my biological Mom. I love art and math. So much so that in my free time I actually do multiplication tables! Everyone thinks that artsy people aren’t smart, that creativity is the only thing they could be good at. It isn’t always true. In the future I want to be a lawyer so I can help people. My favourite actor is Cole Sporse and fave song is The Cola song. I am obsessed with my music.I colour code and alphabetize my music collection. I am new to Milne Valley but already feel as if I have many new friends. This is my fourth school and easily the most diverse. Some say I am a social butterfly but really I am not.

Humans of Milne Valley

Spring 2019

Volume 2, Issue 3

The Milne Messenger Know What’s Happening….

Let 2019 be the Year of Ac-ceptance

1

Mr. Shin’s Grade 7 Design Projects

Continuing to Give Back to the Community

2

Milne Valley Gets Gardening!

Global Achievements! Mak-ing a Difference in the World That We Live In!

3

The IB Learner Profiles

M.V.’s Grade 6 Girls Volley-ball!

Warming up to Winter

4

Building Leaders of Milne Valley

The Canadian National Math League

5

Me to We Sweet Tweets

Life Through a Lense

6

Highlight of Grade 7: Mono Cliff Outdoor Education Cen-ter

H.E.R Eat Alive

Starry Night at Milne

7

Humans of Milne Valley

Puzzles

Comic

8

Let 2019 be the Year of

Acceptance

By Shauna G.

Bullying, racism, homophobia and more have a negative im-pact on people. Words have meaning so use them carefully! Starting off the new year strong, WE club is going to run the #MilneSweetTweets throughout the month of Feb-ruary.

Many people think that hiding behind a screen makes words less hurtful. Many may forget what you said, or what you did but they will never forget how you made them feel. You may not realize this but it is easy for someone to put on a fake smile, simply agree with what you said but once they leave that zone, your words haunt them. You can neither physi-cally, verbally or cyber bully someone. Bullying is a big problem but it can be stopped if we all follow through with this movement.

We Club is running a global initiative to prevent bullying and spread awareness of this

societal issue to our school, local and global community. You may be wondering, how are we going to do this and what are we going to do? Well, WE club is going to run #MilneSweetTweets where we can all show that we sup-port bullying in many ways by wearing tags, contributing to our bullying awareness board, listening to announcements and more. We will also be posting our messages on social media so make sure to stay updated.

Let’s show our community that together we can help stop bullying. Go Spartans!

Milne Valley Messenger

October 2018

Editorial Board

J. Fusco and J. Rosen

Publisher

J. Fusco

Editors

Jaycee A., Keisha A., Shana G., Yena J., Adam K., Lakshita K.,

Alisia N., Khaviyaa S., Michelle Z.

Contributors

Jaycee A., Brianna G., Shana G., Mariam H., Jana K., Alice L., Alisia

N., Ruhan R., Jada S., Aarani V.

Art

Page 2

By Shana G.

The season of giving never ends at Milne Valley Middle School. Each month over 850,000 people turn to food banks for help and one-third who suffer from hunger are youth. Espe-cially as an IB school, we can’t just watch people suffer so, Milne Valley hosted its annual food drive.

We collected approximately 200 cans, but we can do much better Spartans. Why do we have food drives? Well, many people in our lo-cal community and around the world are not as fortunate as we are and are not able to feed themselves or their families. We donate food to them and food shelters which many people de-pend on. We can change one life at a time! Why should it be our goal to collect more? We need food to grow and develop so with our help, kids like

us and other people suffering from food insecurity, they have the chance to be able to be healthy and grow. Food banks and drives help prevent health problems in the fu-ture by not consuming nutritious food.

Milne Valley will have an-other food drive which will take place some time in the spring, so keep reading Milne Messengers to stay updated. Let’s see how many cans of non perishable items we can collect to help our local com-munity! We can make a huge change if every student in the school brings at least one non per-ishable food item. If we come to-gether and work as a whole school, we can make a difference and a better tomorrow. Don’t wait for other people to make changes in the world and in our community. Be

the change and realize that you are also somebody who can take action in the community by taking small steps such as donating an item. You may think that it is only one item. But, to the person who is re-ceiving it, it could mean so much more.

Thank you to Ms.Fusco and to Ms.Lister for hosting this food drive. Let’s do this Spartans and be the change in someone’s life.

Continuing to Give Back to the Community

By: Aarani V.

Attention grade sevens! All the grade 7s in Mr.Shin’s design class were assigned a design project that involves communicating, thinking, creativity, and team-work.

In groups of four or five, students were asked to create a structure. Their options were to build either a bridge or tower. The challenge was that the students were only allowed to use specific materials, included: popsicle sticks, tooth-picks and white glue. The stu-dents who are building a bridge must have their bridge support at least 2 textbooks and students who are building a tower must have their tower support a basket-ball. The design task had been

divided into 4 steps to help guide the students while they plan their structure.

Step one—create an individual sketch of how you want your structure to look like. Step two -research on Youtube, google im-ages or look through textbooks to collect information on towers or bridges. One of the homework assignments given to help the students was to do research on five famous bridges or towers to gather some ideas. This will al-low the students to collect ideas and be inspired by real-life bridg-es and towers.

Come on grade sevens, put your heads together and get building!

Mr. Shin’s Grade 7 Design

Projects

Page 7

Shana G.

Three days away from technology, exploring the beauty of the outdoors with our friends and classmates and having an opportunity that would not want to be missed describes our Mono Cliffs trip. Throughout December, the grade 7 classes of Milne Valley partici-pated in the overnight Mono Cliffs outdoor education center. It was a mar-vellous trip where we saw the world in a different way and built an interest in the outdoors by learning interactively with nature.

The grade 7s spent three whole days with no technology and were just asked to bring their open minds. It was cold and snowy but it was worth it. In fact, we had too much fun to even no-tice! With activities relating to our curriculum, we learnt new things and spent a lot of time in the outdoors. Some of the activities included the night hike, photography challenge, a

day hike, and an orientation challenge.

We also created an Aurora Borealis art piece.

One of the most interesting things is that Mono Cliffs is at the height of the highest restaurant in the C.N tower. But we could even go high-er to be at the same level of the C.N tower! The activities were all linked to geography, science, art and more. We had amazing teachers at Mono Cliffs that taught us a lot and we were able to take a lot from them and bring it back to school. Not only was Mono Cliffs an educational trip but a great time to bond with your friends and classmates. You had a chance to get closer to old friends but had the opportunity to make new ones. As you can tell this trip allowed us to build academic skills and learning skills such as communica-tion and cooperation.

This was a

major highlight of grade 7 but it could not have happened without the teachers who came on the trip, and our administration. Thank you for organizing this and giving us the opportunity to go to Mono Cliffs and learn new things in a different environment. All in all, Mono Cliffs was a memorable and special expe-rience.

Highlight of Grade 7: Magnificent Mono Cliffs!

H.E.R Eat

Alive

By Jana K.

Students of Milne Valley something new is being brought to you! For the first time ever at Milne Valley, students will be able to access a healthy eating website. It’s called:

“H.E.R Eat Alive”

This website helps raise awareness of healthy eating. It’s here to help you with healthy food choices and provide tips for healthy eating. To ac-cess this website just type in this link:

You can see who the creators of this web-site are, and find cool, fun, and easy-to-make recipes for meals or snacks-on-the-go. If you want to find out more about this website, and want to see how you can have a healthy diet, visit this website. It will be available for as long as you need it.

Grade 7s having a great time!

By Ruhan R.

Last Thursday, an artist named Sadat came to our school. We had no idea who he was at first. Until our teacher Ms.Rosen told us that he was Ruhan’s brother. It was art class and 6-3 were working on Vincent Van Gogh’s. But, before we started working on Van Gogh’s arts, Ms.Rosen asked Sadat to check our Picasso inspired paintings and give comments on them. Most of the comments were really good. We learned many things about Picasso, the way he used to draw and who did he get inspired by. We watched a video about the famous painting ‘Starry Night.’ Our next step was to draw it. But first, Sadat drew it on the

board by chalk and we all observed his steps. The class was awestruck.

For some of us it was easy, but for others, challenging. The drawing he drew was amazing! We all learned something new about art that day (such as the name of the art style of Van Gogh impression-ism). For me it was a fantastic experience be-cause, besides being my brother, Sadat has stud-ied art for 13 years and won 28 gold medals in contests. He came in and taught us from a really different perspective. I hope he returns and we can learn more about Sadat’s favourite artist, Dustin Yellin.

Starry Night at Milne

Machaela and her “Starry Night”.

Sedat

Page 6

-Me to We-

---Sweet Tweets---

Jada S.

Me to We has been active with ini-tiatives to help people almost every month, in January they have decided to take it upon themselves to fight cyber bullying. Everyday in February they releasing a “Sweet Tweet” say-ing how unique, or amazing you are and not to give into what other peo-ple say about you. I think that this is an amazing thing that they are doing, especially now with everything that the world is telling us to be. There is a breakthrough in the community where slowly more and more people are telling you to be yourself, and that is terrific! But there are still peo-ple out there telling you to be skinny,

be popu-lar, be mean. In reality, your happiness is all you need. You don’t need to be popular, have the friends you want, not what someone else does. You don’t have to be skinny, be your own body shape and own it, if some-one doesn’t like it, then they have to deal with it. And you definitely don’t have to be mean and powerful! If you be yourself people will love you for it, don’t be what people are trying to

make you be, come out and scream “This is me!”. Me to We are taking these things into consideration and are helping people see this. They are using quotes that famous people have said, or that they heard some-where and are posting these quotes on that Milne Valley’s twitter ac-count. The title “Sweet Tweets” is very appropriate since they are post-ing this in February, the month of Valentines Day, and they are tweet-ing a “sweet” something everyday. I hope that this inspires people to scream “This is me!” and brings them out of their confined space.

Milne Through a Lens

Brianna G. and Jaycee A.

Are you looking for a challenge? Do you have an interest in imagery and aesthetics? Want to try something new? Well then, you might want to look into photography club.

Photography club features a variety of projects and assignments that utilise your creativity and artistic eye to create beautiful compositions. One of the first assignments given was called “From Where I Stand”, where members were tasked with taking a photo of their feet in an interesting place. The latest assign-ment is called “Forced Perspective”. This is where you have to take a photo that manipulates the size of an object. So far, our photographers have put to-gether a very impressive collage of im-ages. And the best part? Most students don’t use expensive cameras or equip-ment—even a mobile phone will do!

Any of this sound interesting to you? If you would like to join Photography Club, come to Ms. Klinck’s room—room 107— every day 9. Everyone is welcome to join and we look forward to seeing all the amazing photos you will take.

Page 3

Milne Valley Gets Gardening! By: Mariam H.

Milne Valley Garden Club has begun. Gardening Club is a club that involves planting plants to create a healthy and a more re-freshing environment. Grade 8 students Elise and Jaycee, have created the gardening club as their community service project. Elise and Jaycee hope to make a greener environ-ment in Milne Valley. Elise states, “We decided to make the gardening club as our community service project because we want-ed to create a community garden to bring the students of Milne Valley together to plant plants to turn Milne Valley into a greener place.” Many students think that it is a great idea to start a community garden. This will help encourage students to care for their

surroundings and it will help students grow a love for nature. So far, students have learned innovative ways to help them plant seeds. Jaycee and Elise have taught how to use flyers and scrap paper and turn them into containers to plant the seeds. The students have filled their containers with rich soil and have planted various differ-ent seeds. The Gardening Club is held every other Tuesday at lunch. New members are always welcome. So, come join and take the initiative towards mak-ing a positive change for your

school by contributing to the community garden.

Classroom Plants

GLOBAL ACHIEVEMENTS! KIDS ARE

MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD THAT WE LIVE IN! By Alisia N.

Being an IB school, Milne Valley encour-ages its students to think globally and act locally.

It is encouraging to see different students around the world addressing global issues. A 12 year old boy from Pune, Haaziq Kazi designed a ship called ERVIS. The purpose of this ship is to help reduce pol-lution in the ocean and safe marine live. According to Haaziq, he was concerned about the fish in the ocean. The fish that we eat are exposed to plastic and therefore it comes back to us as we eat the fish. He has designed his ship in such a way that the saucers suck up the waste. He said his designed ship has a machine in its base which is capable of sucking plastic from the ocean and sorts it according to its size. There is a sensor on the bottom that can

detect marine life, water and plastic and sorts it accordingly. The marine and water flows back to the ocean. This complex ship is aiming to reduce water pollution.

Haziq has presented his ideas to interna-tional organizations such as TedEx and Ted8. He is also working with different organizations to create public awareness on water pollution and measures that can be taken to prevent it.

Another student who addressed a very important issue is 12 year old student Gitanjali Rao, who is in grade 8 and American. Millions of people around the world are exposed to water containing lead and its harmful side effects. Gitanjali Rao has invented a nanotechnology sensor-based water tester. She has named this tester “Tethys”. Her device detects lead in water faster than anything else available

on the market today.

Gitanjali Rao’s device is able to measure if portable water is con-taminated with lead, beaming the results straight to a Bluetooth-enabled Smartphone. When it de-tects levels higher than 15 parts per million, the device warns that the water is unsafe.

What can you do to make a change in our world?

Haaziq Kazi and ERVIS

Page 4

The IB Learner Profiles By Alisia N.

The IB learner profiles are an im-portant part of an IB program. Milne Valley like all other IB schools en-courages its students to demonstrate and practice using the IB learner pro-files. The IB learner profiles aim to develop learners who are inquirers, knowledgeable, thinkers, communica-tors, principled, open- minded, caring, risk-takers, balanced and reflective. They help each member of the com-munity to respect themselves and oth-ers around them.

The IB learner profile for the month of March is Inquirer. Inquirers use their natural curiosity to learn about the world around them. They are in-dependent learners and are able to conduct inquiry and research confi-dently and independently. Inquirers

enjoy learn-ing and gradually become life-long learn-ers.

Milne Val-ley greatly believes in learning through inquiry. The teachers encourage the students to participate in research, inquire and become independent learners.

The learner profiles for the month of April is knowledgeable, the month of May is thinker and the month of June is reflective.

Let us all ensure to demonstrate these profiles and strive to become lifelong learners.

M.V’s Grade 6 Girls Volleyball! By Alice L.

Milne Valley coaches Ms. Magder and Ms. Karanovic held tryouts for the school’s very own, grade 6 girls volleyball team. Approximately 40 girls tried out but only 12 made the final cut. Practices begun mid Janu-

ary, after school at 3:04 pm in the gymnasium on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. They practiced hard for almost an hour, twice a week. Wednes-day, February 13th was the last practice before

the first game that Milne Val-ley’s team

competed in.

Located at the school, a tournament was held on Tuesday, February 19th, 2019. The home-team girls played excellently against each team, win-ning five sets and losing only one.

At the end of the day, Milne Val-ley’s grade 6 girls volleyball team had 5 points, making them first! On to the semi-finals on Monday, February 25th, the girls had the quarter finals at their school start-ing around 3:15. They won both sets against Donway Middle School, crushing them in the sec-ond set. The team went on to play at St. Andrews Middle School for the semi finals and

finals. The Spartans won the first game and moved on to the

finals that same

day. Finally, on March 6th the city championships were played. The team fought hard, losing by a few points only. What a season, Spartans!

The team in action.

Team photo at the season end party.

Warming up to

Winter

By Shreyas N.

One way to stay warm this winter is to be prepared to face anything from walking in heavy snow to having wind in your face. In winter anything can happen so be extra prepared. Bundle up knowing the school might not be able to help if you don't have a scarf or hat. Remember it's not your parents responsibility to make sure you are dressed in winter gear, we are old enough to make the decision to wear a hat or not!

Don't try to get yourself sick by play-ing in the snow without all your hats, mittens or gloves to keep you warm.

Another way to stay warm is Study Hall. In Study Hall you can catch up on homework, read a book, play chess with a friend, get ahead in studies and finish incomplete homework. Best of all, you can embrace the warmth of the library.

The last way to stay warm is you can go to Zain 3 on 3, which is on

Wednesdays and Fridays. Moving your body will keep you warm and it is also a great time to play basketball outside of gym class. It is a great way to find people with solid basketball skills.

You can’t live in Canada and avoid winter so make sure you’re always prepared.

Page 5

Shana G.

Future Aces members had an opportunity to participate in a workshop that helped us learn and plan on ways to better Milne Valley’s school environment. Herbert Carnegie’s daughter and another member of the Future Aces program came speak and do activities with us. We all learnt a lot from this workshop and we came together to make an action plan.

When we went to the workshop we were divided into groups. Example, attitude, service and co-operation. We had to use different skills and we had to introduce our partners. We worked together to match the puzzle pieces to find our partner. We got a chance to practice communication skills. We talked more about the Future Aces organizations and skills that we had.

After we looked and analyzed our school a little clos-er, we had time to plan on what we were going to do as a group to make changes. For February, we decided that we were going to host a Milne Recognition assembly. We came together and presented our ideas. If you stay tuned with the Milne Messenger and keep reading other articles, you can

read how the Milne Recogni-tion assembly went. The last thing that we did was, in the beginning of the workshop we were given a person to write about what good deed you observed from them and then we presented it to them. This concluded our Future Aces workshop.

The Future Aces Workshop was a great learning ex-perience for everyone. We practised many skills such as communication, teamwork, observation skills which are great traits of a leader. This is the start to making change in our school. Let’s take the journey together and find more leaders in the school. Together we can change the school and make it better for everyone. Go Spartans!

Thank you to Mme. Masci and Ms. Magdar for help-ing us run the events and for the support and supervision. Thank you to Mr. Fong for the lunch that was provided. Thank you to the Future Aces program leaders who took the time to help us figure out what we were going to do and making this a great experience for us all!

Building Leaders of Milne Valley

The Canadian National Math League

By Alisia N.

The CNML (Canadian National Math League) is a math contest which is held throughout Canada. Different schools across Canada partici-pate in this math league.

The top three stu-dents in each grade are awarded with a certificate of Merit.

This year students from grades 6, 7, and 8 participated in the league which took place on the 26th of February in Mr. Shin’s class. Congratulations to all those who participated and to

those who received a certificate of merit. A big thank you to Mr. Shin and all our teachers for supporting and encouraging us.

Contests like the CNML help

students to develop their math skills and develop their confi-dence. It encourages those stu-dents for whom Math is not very interesting to participate and look at Math from a differ-ent view point. Math is not al-ways boring! It can be fun and challenging.

Students who participated in this league got an opportunity to develop different math skills, practice their skills and chal-lenged them to do their best.

A big pat on the back for all those who par-ticipated in this challenge.

Coming up in May is another contest. This is the Gauss contest and it is held by the University of Wa-terloo. The contest will be con-ducted in our school. We en-courage you all to participate and hope to see many of you there!